Jury convicts man in scheme, attack at Sikh temple

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BAKERSFIELD, Calif. (KBAK/KBFX) — A Kern County jury convicted a man Monday who was accused of hiring a man to assault his niece's husband because the niece reportedly married outside her social class.

Nirmal Sehmbey was found guilty of conspiracy to commit robbery and conspiracy to commit assault with force likely to cause great bodily injury, the district attorney's office said.

He paid a man $1,000 to drive up to Bakersfield from Van Nuys to carry out the attack on Manjit Singh as Singh and his family arrived at their Sikh temple on South P Street. Singh had married Sehmbey's niece.

The man paid to beat up Singh and another man involved in the scheme took plea deals in exchange for their cooperation in the prosecution of Sehmbey, who could get five years in state prison when he's sentenced in March.